Istanbul hosts 20th BSEC summit

Istanbul is hosting the 20th summit of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) today. Meetings of heads of BSEC states and governments, foreign ministers and Parliamentary assemblies and forums for NGOs, trade and investments will be held.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will arrive at the Airport of Ataturk for the summit. Mammadyarov will meet Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili will meet his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev and Moldava’s Nikolae Timofti.

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Serbia will be represented by presidents. Bulgaria, Albania and Russia will be represented by prime ministers. Russia will be represented by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The spokesman of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan said that Armenia will be represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Ovakimyan, although President Serzh Sargsyan had been invited.

The BSEC was founded on June 25, 1992. It consists of 12 states of the Balkans, Black Sea and Caucasus.

The organization reacts to socio-economic and political challenges and helps to organize realization of energy projects in the region with involvement of the US, EU and Gulf states. Bulgaria and Romania expressed fears that the realization of the Eastern Partnership project would harm other regional initiatives, including BSEC. Serbia passes chairmanship to Turkey this year, according to the rotational principle.